Shimon Peres

Former Israeli president and elder statesman Shimon Peres, a joint winner of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize and an influential figure in Israeli politics for 70 years, died in a hospital on Wednesday aged 93, two weeks after suffering a massive stroke.

President Barack Obama did not address reports that chemical weapons had been deployed in Syria during a joint press conference Wednesday afternoon with Israeli President Shimon Peres, who expressed greater concern about the matter.